RRI.CO.ID, Ciamis - The indigenous community of Kampung Adat Kuta in Ciamis, West Java, is embracing modern technology to preserve centuries-old ancestral traditions, teaching local youth to document and promote their heritage across social media platforms through a community-led Cultural School (Sekolah Budaya).

To bridge the gap between traditional customs and modern youth culture, the community is converting smartphones, often seen as a distraction to traditional values, into tools for cultural preservation. Young residents are trained in short-form video creation, TikTok content production, cultural documentation, and digital storytelling to showcase their village online.

"We cannot avoid modernization in this village, even though we continue to maintain our customary traditions to this day. The most important thing is how the community utilizes technology wisely," explained a cultural guide (Pandu Budaya) at Kampung Adat Kuta, Ade Koko Komara, speaking in Ciamis on Tuesday, July 28, 2026, as quoted by Antara.

The initiative expanded after community leaders received training from the ministries covering village potential mapping, proposal writing, digital archiving, and multimedia documentation. The shift toward digital record-keeping gained urgency following a fire in 2025, which highlighted the necessity of cloud storage to protect historical archives, awards, and administrative records from physical disasters.

To widen their outreach, the Cultural School collaborates voluntarily with content creators, YouTubers, and Facebook Pro users to spotlight the village’s unique living heritage without relying on formal advertising budgets.

Beyond digital skills, the Cultural School offers immersive, field-based learning held every two to three weeks. Children and teenagers participate directly in daily village routines, such as accompanying local farmers during traditional palm sugar (gula aren) processing, providing visiting tourists with an authentic look at sustainable living.

Local leaders and cultural guides emphasize that educating the younger generation about the functional wisdom behind ancestral customs is essential for long-term preservation.

Koko reflected on his own childhood doubts regarding strict traditional architectural mandates, such as building stilt houses (rumah panggung) and replacing thatched roofs every five years.

"After understanding the reasoning, I realized that stilt houses are the result of ancestral knowledge adapted to the unstable soil conditions of West Java, the structure, which rests on stone foundations, makes the buildings far more earthquake-resistant than permanent concrete structures, these are the insights we share with the public through social media, traditions that we actively preserve in the era of modernization," Koko shared. ***